Franklin Gregory

Franklin is a group leader at the department of biology, University of Minho. Franklin obtained his PhD in Plant biotechnology from University of Madras, India and underwent POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES (India, USA, KSA, Portugal) leading research institutions. Through his research over the past 12 years, he has made the following MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOTH THE BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH:
1. Published 28 peer reviewed research articles
2. Discovered the incompatible Agrobacterium-Hypericum interaction [Plant science 172:1193-1203 (2007); Planta 227:1401-1408 (2008); Phytochemistry 70:60-68 (2009)
3. Developed plant regeneration protocols for 12 species
4. Developed plant genetic engineering technology for 6 important plant species
Also made some important innovations (Q-Technologies) that are under disclosure (CONFIDENTIAL):
1. Discovered a universally applicable method for cell suspension culture establishment (Q-PSCell , Q-TranCell ) and shoot regeneration (Q-PReg )
2. Invented the method of shutting down plant defense response to promote Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (Q-PTrans )
3. A method for using stably transformed Lactuca sativa plants as biofactories to produce therapeutic proteins (Q-SmartProt ) and their purification by a simple novel method
These outstanding research contributions has brought G. Franklin great INTERNATIONAL VISIBILITY and enabled him to COORDINATE A FP7 PROJECT entitled HYPEXPLOR: Exploration of Hypericum species for bioactivities, drug leads and bioproducts in the last call (KBBE-2013), requesting 13 million Euros funding. This large-scale collaborative project includes 20 academic Institutions and 4 companies from 14 countries (Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, Israel, China, India and Brazil (for more information visit www.hypexplor.com). European Commission evaluation RANKED The SCIENTIFIC QUALITY OF THE PROJECT AS EXCELLENT (4.5/5.0).
Apart from this, G. Franklin has also attracted national funding in Portugal and India. The funded projects are,
1. Year 2010: Molecular mechanisms of Agrobacterium recognition and defense activation in recalcitrant plant species: How do recalcitrant plants avoid T-DNA transfer? (PTDC/AGR-GPL/119211/2010, FCT Approved for funding 152967.00)- RUNNING
2. Year 2011: Investigator in PEst-C/AGR/UI4033/2011 (FCT, 439,634.00)
3. Year 2013: Investigator in International FCT PhD program: Agricultural Production Chains - From Fork to Farm ( 80,000.00)
4. Year 2009: Biocaps project: Development of hydrosoluble tea capsules or pills QREN I&DT n.º 4492/2009; Approved for funding 25000.00)- Finished
5. Year 2001: Bruchid resistant pigeonpea and lepidopteran resistant eggplant through Agrobacterium mediated genetic transformation. Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India (Approved funding INR 1500000.00)- Not undertaken, as he had to move to USA
Moreover, he had been HONORED with the following activities:
1. Chair person in 6th Annual Hypericum meeting (5th Oct 2013, Kocise, Slovakia)
2. Organizing committee member of the prestigious international GA conference to be held in 2014 at Guimaraes, Portugal
3. Founding and managing editor of the Hypericum Journal
4. Delivered 7 invited lectures, organized 2 workshops and 3 advanced courses
5. Editorial board member of Scientifica
6. Review panel member for international research proposals and PhD theses
7. Reviewer for many reputed journals (e.g., PCTOC, CEJB (Springer), Lett in drug discovery (Bentham), J Biomedical Nanotech (American Scientific), Int J Gen Breed (Academic Journals), Plant Sci (Elsevier), Langmuir (American Chemical Society)
In addition to the aforementioned qualities, G. Franklin has a unique qualification to be a SCIENTIFIC ENTREPRENEUR by having LLM degree IN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS. This provides additional potential to him to USE THE OUTCOME OF HIS CURRENT RESEARC

55th International congress and annual meeting of the society for medicinal plant research.. Production of xanthones with antimicrobial and antioxidant activities by Hypericum perforatum L. cells. 2007. (Congresso).